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H&R Block and Intuit Are Lobbying Against Making Tax Filling Free and Easy

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Re: H&R Block and Intuit Are Lobbying Against Making Tax Filling Free and Easy

#111

Post by mikeash »

John23832 wrote: post #88
mikeash wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it could work really well to put businesses "in jail." You can't physically put them in prison, but you can achieve the same ultimate effect by forcing them to cease operations for a period of time. If a crime would put a person in prison for five years, then maybe it should also force a business to cease operations for five years.

Well that may be a good possible solution, but currently we don't/can't do that.

Didn't "what are you going to do" indicate a potential hypothetical?

Re: H&R Block and Intuit Are Lobbying Against Making Tax Filling Free and Easy

#112

Post by BuuQu9hu »

John23832 wrote: post #4

It's never wrong for businesses to lobby for their interests. It's wrong when our elected officials bend to those business interest when it goes against the public interest.

"It's just business" is not a reasonable ethical framework. I suspect that you know this already.

Re: H&R Block and Intuit Are Lobbying Against Making Tax Filling Free and Easy

#113

Post by problems »

gech wrote: post #103
jawns wrote: post #74

Because of the complexity of tax regulations, I don't think coming up with a competing free/open-source/nonprofit tax preparation service is the right answer to this problem. Let's consider the positions of all sides: * The professional tax preparers are worried that they're going to lose business if the government assumes the bulk of the tax preparation work. * We as taxpayers would prefer that the government pre-fi…

>But we also recognize that it's in the government's interest to maximize the tax we pay, and (ideally) it's in the tax preparers' interest to minimize the tax we pay. I don't buy this at all

What don't you buy about it? If a tax preparer doesn't give me the return I'm expecting, you can bet I'm going somewhere else or using different software the next year.

And of course the government wants to maximize revenue - if they were given control over this they could easily do small UI tweaks that may result in significant increases in revenue.

Re: H&R Block and Intuit Are Lobbying Against Making Tax Filling Free and Easy

#114

Post by smnrchrds »

jawns wrote: post #74

Because of the complexity of tax regulations, I don't think coming up with a competing free/open-source/nonprofit tax preparation service is the right answer to this problem. Let's consider the positions of all sides: * The professional tax preparers are worried that they're going to lose business if the government assumes the bulk of the tax preparation work. * We as taxpayers would prefer that the government pre-fi…

We (almost) have this in Canada. CRA (our version of IRS) has an Auto-fill [0] option allowing the tax preparation software to import most commonly-used data after authorization. There are some good free tax preparation software, my favourites being SimpleTax (online, web-based) and StudioTax (offline, with option to file digitally or print the completed forms for paper filing). It typically takes me less than 15 minutes to file my taxes.

[0] https://help.simpletax.ca/questions/how-to-use-afr

Re: H&R Block and Intuit Are Lobbying Against Making Tax Filling Free and Easy

#115

Post by Retric »

Spivak wrote: post #37
atonse wrote: post #24

Could we not start a non-profit that builds software as good as H&R block and allows people to file their own taxes?

Sure, but there wouldn't really be a meaningful difference between that and the existing players since non-profits still need revenue to operate.

At scale a non profit could be advertising supported on the login page. Jumping from 1,000 users to 100 million does not have massive cost increases.

As soon as that non profit hit's critical mass the for profits are going to be stuck and thus stop lobbying for more complex rules. At which point the IRS can just automate the process for 95% of people.

Re: H&R Block and Intuit Are Lobbying Against Making Tax Filling Free and Easy

#116

Post by John23832 »

M_Grey wrote: post #106
John23832 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because "morality" is a uniquely human trait, and we elect politicians to enact laws (which are group morality, codified). We pay businesses for goods and services.

So you're just going to pick and choose as it suits you, and then act baffled when people point out the hypocrisy in that course? Oh.

You asked my logic, I gave it to you, you respond and say that I "pick and choose", with sarcasm.

Please stop being a childish.

Re: H&R Block and Intuit Are Lobbying Against Making Tax Filling Free and Easy

#117

Post by eli »

Azkar wrote: post #67
imgabe wrote: post #58

Filing is always free. Online filing costs money, but you can always mail in a paper form. If everyone did that, the IRS would pretty quickly want to make sure people can file online easily and cheaply. Stop using HR Block and Turbo Tax. For most people, taxes are not very complicated. The IRS publishes detailed instructions that literally explain what every box means and what should go in it for every form. Just rea…

You underestimate how lazy and unmotivated most people are.

You underestimate how much people's time is worth to them.

Re: H&R Block and Intuit Are Lobbying Against Making Tax Filling Free and Easy

#118

Post by maxerickson »

jawns wrote: post #102
problems wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Because of the complexity of tax regulations, I don't think a free/open-source/nonprofit tax preparation system is the right answer to this problem. Maybe our taxes are simpler, but in Canada we have many free tools even endorsed by the government for tax preparation and they're quite popular. Some of them are even offered by Intuit and H&R Block in order to keep people using their software.

Yes, the U.S. has free options, too. In fact, that's what the OP's article focuses on, and I referenced the Free File system in my comment. I didn't mean that no free options should exist. I mean that coming up with a "disruptive" competitor to the big guys that essentially does what they do, but doesn't charge you, isn't as easy as it seems.

Credit Karma is offering free filing for more complicated returns:

https://www.creditkarma.com/tax

They want access to all that sweet financial data that appears on tax forms though (they make money marketing credit products), so I'd probably read the privacy policy pretty closely before using it.

Re: H&R Block and Intuit Are Lobbying Against Making Tax Filling Free and Easy

#119

Post by coldpie »

AtticusTheGreat wrote: post #60

I file my taxes for free, easily, by printing out the forms at home and doing them by hand on paper. The only cost to me is for the envelopes and postage. I've done some pretty complex filings over the years, and have built up the knowledge I need to do it well. Also, if I make a mistake the government is usually pretty good about letting me know and I either cut them a check for the difference or they cut me a check…

I disagree that it's easy to do by hand, and I'm a relatively smart dude. It took me about 2.5 hours to do my and my wife's taxes last night including four W-2s and calculating an ACA penalty due to a gap. That was 2.5 hours longer than I would have preferred, especially considering the IRS already has this info.

But, I still prefer this to supporting Intuit & Co.

Re: H&R Block and Intuit Are Lobbying Against Making Tax Filling Free and Easy

#120

Post by maxxxxx »

mikeash wrote: post #14
roesl027 wrote: post #3

In this alternative solution, the government does your taxes, so instead of paying a company/accountant to do it, our taxes / the deficit will pay for it. Someone has to do the work, and if it's not these companies, it will be the IRS. I'd be in favor of simplifying the tax code so everyone could file their own return with confidence!

The work is already being done. Try putting some incorrect numbers into your tax return this year. Sometime after you file, you'll probably get a letter informing you of the mistake, telling you how much your actual tax liability differs from what you filed, and either a check or a bill for the difference.

That's exactly it. The IRS would just tell you what they already know.
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